A Gift and a Curse
by Shootnstar
Summary: An ancient tale of Elves and curses are about to become unveiled as the Yuyu team meets a mysterious girl, who seems to know more about the past than they will ever discover...


"Damn you, Koenma!" Yusuke shouts, almost breathlessly, while wondering how he was going to defeat the thirteen eyeballed demon standing in front of him. He already used most of his spirit energy, but all in vain. "These missions are only getting harder and harder and this one's near impossible... I hope your father, King Yama grounds you for the rest of your life!"

The demon, who was named Kojijakin by Spirit World, (He didn't have a name before) thrashed his spiked tail around wildly, while steam poured out of his nostrils. He rapidly took two quick slashes at Yusuke only to be leapt upon, as his opponent jumped to safely. Kojijakin was considered a powerful demon, but thankfully not a very smart one.

"Die, already! You damned demon from hell!" Yusuke fired another fully-charged spirit gun at Kojijakin, although, like the dozens of times he tried before, it was useless. The demon seemed to have armored scaled that covered his green body. Yusuke fell on his left knee, body shaking under him. "I don't know if I can hold out much longer without any help..."

"Yusuke! Face it! You can't win all of your battles- it's time to run!" Botan, his assistant, cried. "If we don't abort this mission, we may never live to see tomorrow!" Her eyes were swollen and she looked as if she were about to cry.

Yusuke didn't answer her. He knew that Botan was right, but couldn't face the fact that he would be defeated so easily. Gritting his teeth, the proud Spirit detective said, "Alright! Let's go!" He ran to Botan and grabbed her arm, leading her through the dark tunnel that would be their only route to freedom.

"Oh no, you don't!" Kojijakin opened his mouth and let a blast of invisible energy hit the ceiling of the tunnel. Huge rocks and streams of dust fell to the ground blocking Yusuke and Botan's escape path.

"What now?" Yusuke was getting desperate. The giant demon laughed a cruel laugh. There was absolutely nothing that the Spirit Detective could do. Botan completely froze in fear as Kojijakin towered over the comrades, all thirteen eyes rolling around while chucking at his victory. "Hey! It's not over yet!" Yusuke was now getting pissed. After all, the demon hasn't destroyed him completely, but he's dancing around as if he had.

Yusuke was about to launch a full throttled attack with his bare fists, but there was a low growl in the back of the cave, hidden in the black darkness. Kojijakin stopped his laughter and looked around. "Who dares enter my territory?"

"Your territory?" a light-hearted, female voice scoffed. "As far as I'm concerned, you won't even be around much longer- so don't bother protecting this pathetic cave that you call your turf." Instantly, a large beast lunged at Kojijakin, with lightning-fast speed, and sunk sharp fangs into the evil demon's bare throat. Surprised, Yusuke pulled Botan to the other side of the huge cavern to avoid being stepped on, while the beast fought with Kojijakin.

Kojijakin roared in pain as the magnificent creature shot from around all sides of him and tore at his flesh. "Who are you? Why are you doing this to me? It's the humans that are the real enemy!"

Finally, the beast ceased her attacks, letting Yusuke, Botan and the demon set curious eyes upon her. She was a great wolf, with massive paws and shinning black fur, lined with gray-white streaks on her belly and face. She paused for a while, glaring at Kojijakin, and paying no attention to Yusuke and Botan. "I am known by many names," the wolf spoke, in a clear voice, like the sound of a spoon tapping on glass goblets, "Although I mostly go by the name, Timbaray." The majestic beast then hesitated and her expression shifted to one of intense anger. "You, Kojijakin, have terrorized anyone who is smaller than yourself in both power and size. You have pitted innocent people against each other for your own amusement. You have broken all ties with the authority of Spirit World, ignoring the treaties, you have signed. You are a disgrace!"

"So, you work for Spirit World, too?" Kojijakin sounded nervous. "Then you have been told nothing but lies. Koenma probably uses you as a puppet! That is so much less than a beast of your standard deserves! Come! Join forces with me and the other demons of this world! We will demolish Koenma and the pitiful humans he wishes to protect! I can grant you power beyond imagination!"

Timbaray smiled. Yusuke could not decide what she was thinking. After a moment of silence, the wolf said calmly, "Demons like yourself have never gathered allies and I don't see why you would want to now. Your past actions do not agree with your words." Kojijakin looked mortified, but said nothing. Timbaray continued. "You don't really mean what you just said. I can see it in your eyes. I sense nothing but fear."

Sweat dripped down the demon's face. He stated, "I-It was just an impression, y-you see... I-I didn't want you to think that I was a fool-"

Timbaray leapt up and roared, "Your more of a fool than I thought!" She dove down upon Kojijakin, opened her jaws and let out a flash of silver-blue light. Yusuke and Botan turned their heads against the blinding light. When they looked after the light had subsided, the powerful demon, Kojijakin was dead.

Yusuke looked to his right and saw Timbaray, locked eyes with her without saying anything.

"Th-thanks. We would have been goners without your help," Yusuke mumbled.

"Yes. We are full of gratitude. You have a knack of good timing!" Botan added with enthusiasm.

She smiled her sly smile, then in just a matter of seconds, the great wolf changed into a lovely young woman. Yusuke and Botan were both shocked, mouths dropping open. They could see the wolf's figure transform as it glowed, in that short amount of time into the shape of a girl as a light slowly waxed and waned, like the moon.

"Why don't we all get back to Spirit World?" Timbaray asked in her calm voice. "I'm sure Koenma would like to hear how we're doing, if he doesn't already know."

With that said, Yusuke and Botan stared blankly as the mysterious hummed a few foreign words and they instantly appeared in Koenma's palace.

"...This girl... What did she look like?" Kurama questioned after the story tumbled out of Yusuke's restless mouth. It had been a few hours after the incident with Timbaray and Yusuke decided he needed to speak with the team. It was late at night and they met in the park.

"Like I said before- she was really good look'n."

"Yusuke, be more specific."

"Kurama! What else do you need to know!" Kuwabara chimed in. "As long as she's pretty, nothing else matters!"

Hiei said, "Moron! Who cares if this girl- Timbaray- is attractive or not! As a matter of fact, who cares about her at all? It doesn't matter whether she can be trusted or not. She's just another player in the game- one of Koenma's servants. You-" Hiei glared at Kuwabara, "are just another idiot, who doesn't think about the facts!"

"Who are you calling an idiot!"

Yusuke interrupted, "Stop fighting! Save it for demons like Kojijakin!"

"Well, he started it..." Kuwabara mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Yusuke asked in a threatening voice.

"Oh- nothing! Nothing at all! Ha-Ha! Just talking to myself... like I always do! Hehehe..."

"Good."

Kurama spoke up. "Under any circumstances, even if Timbaray can be trusted, we must know her powers, if she is to support us on missions. It would be most unwise to not understand her and her abilities to the fullest. Think, Yusuke, did you notice anything about her that was unusual?"

The Spirit Detective pondered for awhile. "She wasn't human. I know that because her spirit energy wasn't anything like mine or Kuwabara's." Yusuke paused. "Yet... she wasn't a demon, like you-" pointing at Kurama, "or you-" pointing at Hiei.

"Well, Yusuke. You've certainly gotten us very far in your observations. We know that she's not a demon or human. Yes, we've certainly learned a lot," Hiei said sarcastically, with a scoff.

"Wow! I didn't know that you had a sense of humor, Hiei!" Kuwabara piped up. He shut up when Hiei shot him an evil glance.

"Hmmm... I have two theories about this girl- one of which doesn't agree with history and one that doesn't agree with logic," Kurama said.

"Well, aren't you going to share your philosophies with us?" Yusuke asked.

"According to Koenma's records, elves were wipe out long ago, by a race of bloodthirsty demons-"

"Whoa! Are you trying to tell us that Timbaray's an elf? That's why she had those pointy ears!"

"Just listen." Kurama continued, "Since history states that the elves are gone, then the only other option is that someone found elf DNA and has brought back one of the most mystical creatures to ever walk the earth."

"Elves used to live on earth? Our earth?" questioned Kuwabara.

"So the chronicles say," Kurama answered. "But the problem is that Spirit world is obliged to certain restrictions. They are not permitted to bring even the purest of beings back from the dead. Of course, Genkai was an exception." He thought for awhile. "Spirit world is the only source able to revive an elf, so that only leaves the other option."

"So you're saying that Timbaray is an elf, and that Spirit World's records are wrong, because obviously, the elves haven't disappeared?" Yusuke confirmed.

"Precisely. There aren't many other alternatives to prove."

"Well..."

"Well what?"

"There's only one way to find out the truth," Yusuke concluded. "We are going to have to verify this with the elf, herself!"


End file.
